'Dancing with the Stars' eliminated contestant: 'I'm going back to horseback riding'

With a bottom-of-the-leaderboard score of 17 and a sore knee to boot, Chaz Bono looked as if he was heading home on Tuesday. But fans ultimately had more love for the son of Cher and less so for another (far less famous) celebrity. For some parting words from the week 2 eliminated contestant, go to the jump.

Adam Taylor/ABC

Pro Val Chmerkovskiy wasn’t too happy but Elisabetta Canalis tried to put on a positive front, even though she became the second eliminated contestant Tuesday on Dancing with the Stars. Her English is still a little broken — hey, the Italian beauty hasn’t been in the states that long since she split from George Clooney — but she still managed to convey regret about leaving.

“I’m sad of course because for me, it was a good experience,” said Canalis. “I having fun. It was a good opportunity. I really cared about this competition, but it’s a competition so somebody has to go home and tonight we went home.”

Canalis’ elimination was somewhat of a surprise, considering she earned 21 out of a total 30 points during Monday’s performance show while other dancers like Bono, Hope Solo and Carson Kressley scored less. Then again, many viewers probably don’t recognize Canalis — especially if they avoid the celebrity tabloids that chronicle star makeups and breakups.

Her partner thinks their lack of celebrity was somewhat to blame. “The truth is I feel like yesterday the judges kind of dropped the ball on the marks,” Chermkovskiy said. “We did show improvement and I was really happy with our result. But then they gave that result to five other couples and that killed it. There was not enough space between us, you know when it comes down to David Arquette and Chaz Bono, as much as Elisabetta was amazing, the press that they get and the popularity and fan base that they have in America, we can’t compete with that.”

Chermkovskiy even asked his partner if Clooney voted, to which she replied, “I don’t know. No, I don’t know. I think, I don’t think anything.”

Canalis doesn’t know she’ll do next, though she hopes her DWTS run — however brief it was — will count for something. “If Dancing With The Stars will bring me new opportunities, I’ll be happy.” As for lessons learned, Canalis says, “that I have to be more diplomatic sometimes, especially when I’m learning.” That doesn’t make much sense, but okay. What else, lovely? Will you ever dance again?

“Right now I’m going back to horseback riding,” she said, laughing. — With reporting from Carrie Borzillo

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